Elements Community Newsletter: March 2013

[whatifidogetcaught?]

MARCH 2013

Art by: "Zeen84" of deviantART

WAR CONTINUES With 4 rounds complete, Aether is still a top tier team, but the surprising Water team has a 41 card lead. Can they maintain the lead? Or will Aether rise to dominance once more?

Art by hunterkiller of deviantART

Art by gilad of deviantART

Rounds 2 and 3 Summary In Rounds 2 and 3, Aether reigned supreme, with an overall record of 9 wins and 3 losses. In Round 2, the card penalty for a loss was 15 cards. In Round 3, the card penalty for a loss was 21 cards. Round 3 is the last round where full teams will be fielded. A crippling 30 card penalty was dealt to team Gravity for missing the deadline for sending in decks and delaying Round 3.

Round 4 Summary and Beyond Team Water forced their way to first place having a perfect round--6 wins and no losses (also becoming the only team with more cards than their original starting vault), while Team Aether had 2 losses. The penalty for losing a match in Round 4 and every round from this point forth is 27 cards. By looking at the Standings, you can see that only the teams Water, Aether, Air, and Entropy can field full teams in Round 5. After being in last place for the majority of War, a round of 3 wins and only 1 loss may mean that Team Fire is on the comeback trail, especially since they are now in 5th place.

The 1/2013 Leagues Battle League is still rocking and rolling. Marsu is currently in first place! This person has a small lead over the other contestants with League has ended! If you want to get in on this sweet action, just battle someone who is already in Battle League, or wishes to join. Championship League, which is less popular due to its harsh, upped environment, is also moving along at a good clip. blarp has a sizable lead at the moment, with League has ended! If you believe that he should not have all of that power, then join the Championship League, and watch for his most famous deck, or infamous, Blarp. Ever wanted to tell the League Organizers Jenkar, pikachufan2164, and Cheesy111 how amazing, or unamazing the Leagues are? Well then its your lucky day, because there is a thread just for that, known as Suggestions and Feedback. Be sure to check out Cheesy111's amazing profile picture as well. Joining these leagues is great and all, but you don't want to do illegal things! Be sure to read the rules.	PvP Events Warrior's Preparation is nearing completion! In fact, there is only Final Preliminary Battle Complete Look at the standings here, as Entropy is destroying the competition. Team Entropy is Calindu and Spielkind, so congratulate them on their probable victory. PvP World Championship Qualifier #3 is over! This qualifier was a fight for supremacy between the final four of Dragoon, Kuroaitou, Laxadarap, and Zso_Zso. In the end, Dragoon vanquished the enemies who opposed him. Be sure to offer a big huzzah for Dragoon! The Lost Temple has begun and is off to a smashing start. The event is currently in the third round, where Marsu has been revealed to have the idol, and is tied with 3 others to be the farthest from the boulder. Will Marsu retain the idol? Will the event's moderator, RavingRabbid finally admit he has lost his mind? Find out later, because this event will get boulder and boulder every round. Having a ruff time and need a new leash on life? Is your favorite TV show host Bob Barker? Have a telephone but don't want to collar? Then do we have the event for you! The Dog Pit is coming around soon! Create your own virtual dog that affects your deckbuilding, and defeat your enemies!
Competitions Design a Shard PvP Event has been completed. The voting phase has determined that majofa is the victor with his idea of Legend of the Shard Golem! It is an interesting game involving a board for you to travel on and collect shards before the other players do. Give majofa props for coming up with such a potentially fun event! The New Shards - Deckbuilding Competition is over. With the staggering amount of deck entries, Rutarete was barely able to edge out the opposition with his deck, Big Healing for Cheap. It incorporates flying Vampire Daggers with the new Shard of Wisdom and Freedom! Sadly, no one was able to get the special trophy, which involved winning both Shard competitions. Epic 3 Card Design Competition has just kicked off and is running at high octane! The idea is simple, using the 3 images given, make balanced ETG cards! There's only It's time to collect the submissions... (Polls will be up soon!) That's means you better submit soon, but be sure to read the rules first.	Weekly Tournaments and Their Victors Three's a Crowd: Unupgraded on February 2. Winner: None! It was postponed due to a major PvP server bork. Three's a Crowd: Unupgraded on February 9. Winner: Jen-i, this person's 2nd tournament win of the year. We're Only Human: Upgraded on February 16. Winner: Zso_Zso, his 1st tournament win of the year. Me, Myself, and One: Unupgraded on February 23. Winner: Marsu, this person's 1st tournament win of the year. Sometimes with all these tournaments, the TO's are strained to find new ideas. Why not give them a hand and submit an eloquent idea? Public Service Announcement Give a hand to the Bug Hunter skotadi phobos. He has simplified the "Report In-Game Bugs" section from 3 seperate areas to one simple Report a Bug area. Show him your appreciation by ALWAYS searching the Confirmed Bugs and Bug Archive threads before posting. It makes his job easier, and can give you a simple sense of understanding!

YOU.
That's right. You, who is now angry for having to see the atrocity of Comic Sans.
Would you like to prevent future killings due to such behavior? Well, here are TWO whole chances to contribute to the next newsletter!

Get Famous This should bring out your competitive side. What we want is a picture that best represents Elements in real life! This can be ANY picture, but you need to abide by the rules underneath... If you did not make the picture, you MUST provide the source (where it came from), but if you did make the picture, then awesome for you! Send in your picture via PM to both whatifidogetcaught? and Opsinis. Make sure the subject says something along the lines of "Picture for Newsletter". NOT "no subject" or "YOU GUYS SUCK" You can send in more than one picture, but there is a limit of 5. Ignorance of the rules will result in the ignorance of your picture Want another way to get your name in the Newsletter? Like say, Zarathustra1883 just did? He, like a few others, pushed for a competition in the Newsletter, and came up with the idea seen above! We are open to ideas for the next Newsletter, so brainstorm right here in the thread, and you might have your name mentioned and your idea used.

Unmentionable Glory Maybe you don't want glory, but you do want to help out with a Newsletter-related article. Well, a great quest awaits for those who are willing to contribute without mention. You can help out with the next monthly interview! Just read the regulations below. You will be created generic questions for the next interview. You might ask, "What is a generic question?" Well, a generic question is a question that can apply to anybody in the forum. A good example would be: "What is the most amazing Card Art you have seen?" not "What is the most amazing Card Art you have made?". Why? Because not everybody is awesome at Card Art. These questions can range from humorous to serious. Nothing rated R for movies or M for video games! Submit these questions via PM to both whatifidogetcaught? and Opsinis. Make sure the subject is something along the lines of "Questions for Interview". NOT "no subject" or "Who r y'all fin 2 intarvew?" Ignorance of the rules will result in the ignorance of your questions

Tea Time with Giants: The New Brawlmaster and a Man of Many Decks, Chapuz
Below is a portion of the interview.

Q: Why did you choose your nickname?
A: My real name isn't common in my country and South America in general, and sounds like a girl name for most of the people that never heard it before. When I was about 15 years old I entered a chat where I used my name as nickname. Unluckly, too many people were in that chat entering room by room asking girls for virtual sex. As I got tired of being confused by a girl, I changed my nickname for the first funny male character that came to my mind: Chapulín Colorado, an old Mexican TV program. Some time passed and it was damn long, so I abreviated it to Chapu or Chapuz.

Q: For the longest time, you had a Voodoo Doll combo as your avatar. Is that your favorite combination?
A: Voodoo Doll has one of the most badass creatures images in the whole game. There were some others I liked when I reached 200 posts, but this one was rarely used and easy to see when fast scrolling.
I also used to farm FGs with Shak'Ars Revange and have always liked annoying people in PVP1 with that combo, so when I found TheManuz was making his Custom Marks, I asked him to make one with the Voodoo Doll, BB and GP, which I have used until I created Pure Dolls much time later, which includes Adrenaline and Purify as combo cards. Vineroz had the amiability of adding them into my avatar mark. The one I am using now is just a temp for War 6.
Oh yes, it's my favourite combo.

Spoiler for Hidden:

Q: What was the inspiration for becoming the OTK meistro you are today?
A: As I said before, my first FG grinder was the old Fire Bolt OTK. It was pretty boring, I must admit, but it was the only newbie way to get fast electrum and make my first upgraded experiences (I loved, love and will always love Timebow FG grinders)
The deck that actually inspired me was a Dragoon's one, the one I took Limitless Speed's combo from. 200 damage? A single turn? No Fire Bolts? Welcome style!
I also found OTK a funny strategy to play PVP 1 with, letting my opponent tell me -several times- I'm a noob while I imagine their faces reading a "Bye, noob" message and watching their HP reach zero in an instant. The best part is when they face me again some minutes later.

Can't get enough of Chapuz? Then click here.

New Staff Changes Congratulations to Chapuz, who will be tag teaming with Naesala as the Brawlmasters! March 31st is the current Council's last day of their term. If you want to be in the new Council, then be sure to watch out for signups later this month. Ever notice how social networking has taken over the world? Well RavingRabbid and Pella are our new Social Network Managers! With this new position, they will take care of enhancing our public image, attract newcomers, and increase the game's popularity through good humor and fabulous taste! Guilds: More Info Leaked! The two Guildmasters, n00b and Hyroen, have decided to share more information on what they have developed for the future of Guilds! Guilds will have the opportunity to earn Guild Points, which will be abbreviated to GP, to acquire rewards that can be helpful inside and outside of the forum. This economic system will be managed by n00b and Hyroen, so there would be no need to go and hire a banker or something. The Guildmasters are craving your feedback. Go tell them what you think here. Forum Games Connect 4 has been going on for the past few months, with some intense action! Some teams have been inactive, and need to get back on the horse and ride. Check out the Standings and take note of team Gravity, the one whatifidogetcaught? is on. Check out other fun games, such as Corrupt a Wish, the Vending Machine, Counter that Card, Using the Object, and Pict-o-Mark which can all be surprisingly addicting.

New Members from February It takes a lot of nerve to go and explore new things and try to make new friends. These fine folks have decided to go the route of the brave and see if they can do just that. Give them a nice and warm welcome. wiseinsrq Sozzals Vesst Wolwerine painted_ivy Deedle LITHE Quantumage SasukeS2 Ghost of ET Nahemah Rationalizer JabMan81 Chuck_Boris SaltForYrWounds Calimar omgman999 Tharoufizon mycale TeamBftw 160274160048 Falkorr iloveashley3 Twig RTS Demonite aitheria AlexisKing Siouxselle Paddoo

Deck Idea of the Month
Firecell FG OTK by Chapuz
This deck review was written by Council Member and Master of Entropy, Calindu.

Hover over cards for details, click for permalink

Deck import code : [Select]

4sa 4sa 4sa 4sa 4sa 4sa 4sa 4sa 4sa 4sa 4sa 4sa 4sa 52k 52s 52s 52s 560 5f8 5f8 5lm 5lm 5lm 5op 5rl 5rl 5rl 5rl 5rl 5t2 5t2 5t2 5t2 5t2 61t 61t 61t 61t 61t 61t 622 8pu

Once Instosis came into the game, OTK decks quickly gained popularity in the forums. Unfortunately, these decks were fully upped and not newb-friendly, so there were many attempts to make such a newbie OTK deck, which would fulfill the need of no rares or upped cards. Until this deck was posted, the best variant was Limitless Speed, which was made by Chapuz as well, and needs a minimum of 3 upgrades.
This deck is fairly simple, it’s based around a 6 (or 5 against gods where you don’t need Chimera) card combo. The combo would be: Vulture + Fractal + Rain of Fire + Rain of Fire(This one is actually optional too, but you may need it to kill 4+ HP creatures) + Sky Blitz + Chimera. This combination will result into 200+ unstoppable damage, perfect for destroying False Gods. Of course, all this needs preparation before you play the combo: Aflatoxin 1 enemy creature.
This deck, as simple as it is, has a few tricks you must use in order to maximize the winrate:

• Unless you are really quanta flooded in the beginning discard 2 Aflatoxins and 3 hourglasses before preparing the combo. You can play the hourglasses you have left, but don’t risk with Aflatoxins as you might get bellow the quanta needed for OTK.
• Play your defense when you can’t stand damage anymore or if you have a very good draw with early Hourglasses start the chain early so the Sanctuaries can give you a nice EM.
• If you are about to get killed and have no defense use one of yours Rain of Fire(After you do it, use Aflatoxin again) in order to survive, if you can(And your opponent doesn’t have Creature Control), play(and fractal if you have it) vulture.
• Learn the FG decks, know against who you need Chimera, against who you need the 2nd Rain of Fire and against who you must play the defense earlier.

Spoiler for Playable FGs:

Destiny
Elidnis
Ferox
Incarnate
Gemini
Miracle
Neptune
Paradox
Chaos Lord
Decay
Dream Catcher
Fire Queen
Hecate
Serket
Lionheart

Spoiler for damage table:

Horizontal = Creatures </= 3hp Vertical   = Condors	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	18	19	20	21	22	23
1	4	6	8	10	12	14	16	18	20	22	24	26	28	30	32	34	36	38	40	42	44	46	48
2	8	12	16	20	24	28	32	36	40	44	48	52	56	60	64	68	72	76	80	84	88	92	96
3	12	18	24	30	36	42	48	54	60	66	72	78	84	90	96	102	108	114	120	126	132	138	144
4	16	24	32	40	48	56	64	72	80	88	96	104	112	120	128	136	144	152	160	168	176	184	192
5	20	30	40	50	60	70	80	90	100	110	120	130	140	150	160	170	180	190	OTK	OTK	OTK	OTK	OTK
6	24	36	48	60	72	84	96	108	120	132	144	156	168	180	192	OTK	OTK	OTK	OTK	OTK	OTK	OTK	OTK
7	28	42	56	70	84	98	112	126	140	154	168	182	196	OTK	OTK	OTK	OTK	OTK	OTK	OTK	OTK	OTK	OTK

Right now, this deck is probably the best one for farming FGs as a newbie, but just remember one thing: You probably will not be able use the deck to its full potential after more than 100 games. Even so, being easy to play is assured, but mastering it will take some practice.

Card Idea of the Month
Time Bomb | Time Terror by krackocloud
This card review was written by the Card Curator Drake_XIV.

Time to tackle an idea from one of our newer designers, krackocloud.

I personally have a soft spot for cards that change when upgrading, as seen with this card.  When upgrading, it changes from a source of light burst damage to a creature with a deadly area-of-effect potential.  It is safe to assume that from the nature of its effect that, like Unstable Gas, would deal spell damage and thus could be reflected back at the user.

While it may seem to overshadow Unstable Gas in some respects as it covers both of its effects, they have their own drawback.  Like Unstable Gas, it does need to sacrifice itself to activate its effect, but it requires some more turns.  And with the larger amount of creature control there is compared to permanent control, perhaps putting it on par with the forementioned card.

For either version of this idea to take effect, the cards must die by their own hand, so they do not get activated prematurely from any source of damage and, thus, making them prone to most forms of creature control.  However, with the upgraded form, it gains some resilience and can actually take some light damage to help it get closer to imploding.

But how does it fare against similar ideas already in-game?


Time Bomb v Unstable Gas

Unstable Gas
Playing Cost [6 ] + Ignite (Duo Cost) [2 ] + 1 Card + 1 Turn Cost for 20 damage

Time Bomb
Playing Cost [1 ] + Tick (Mono Cost) (x3) [3 ] + 1 Card + 3 Turn Cost for 9 damage

I'm disregarding UG's mass AoE in cost since it also affects both players' side, although without it, it'd probably cost more.


Time Terror v Lightning Storm v Firestorm

Time Terror
Playing Cost [2 ] + Tick (Mono Cost) (x3) [3 ] + 1 Card Cost + 3 Turn Cost for 4 AoE

Lightning Storm
Playing Cost (x2) [4 ] + 2 Card Cost for 4 AoE

Firestorm
Playing Cost [5 ] + 1 Card Cost for 3 AoE

Duo Possibilities

[ | ]
With Time Terror, the potential for death effects is massive.  With Aflatoxin setting up things to kill, all that's left is for Bone Wall, Boneyard, Soul Catcher, and/or Vulture to pick up the remains.  Also, you can easily put off threats with Reverse Time, which could be used with Mummy if no threats are present.

[ | ]
Scared of things killing off your Time Bombs before they become of any use?  With Cloaks, you can easily put off a majority of creature control as you whittle their health little by little.  If you need a little help, Parasite can put a few counters of poison on them to let the ability Tick deal the killing blow.  The same could be said with a weak Drain Life.

[ | ]
With the addition of Dry Spell, it becomes easier to stack on creature control and minimize damage to Time Bomb while gathering quanta to help stave off threats, slowing them down with Freeze and Trident while rendering threats like Otyugh useless with Mind Flayer.  Also, with Toadfish, you can slightly whittle the health down again with Inflate to finish off Time Bomb with its Tick.

[ | ]
Like with every other cheap creature, Fractal is a given key card in regard to spamming them out.  While for most it's for maximizing attack damage, in this case, it's also a deterrent from creature control or, rather, a way to work around it.  With a mass of Time Bomb, only so many can be rendered useless, meaning the survivors can go and wreak havoc.  And standard strategies apply: get rid of creature threats with Lightning and block physical damage with Dimensional Shields.
Thank you to fellow Newsletter Writer Opsinis, the card curator Drake_XIV, the new Brawlmaster Chapuz, the councilmen Calindu, majofa, n00b and the rest of the council who helped gather all the data to make this happen.

[Marsu]

This is not only even more epic than the first one, but I'm also mentioned three times and may now die happily.

[Rutarete]

This is 3x better than last month's!! Truly a great read

Thanks for doing this wiidgc and opsinis!

[blarp]

This was great!

Good work guys!

[Chapuz]

That Comic Sans joke made me laugh, and I scared my cat who was sit in my lap.

[vrt]

Nice art credit.

[Chapuz]

Nice art credit.

True, the pretty table should be shown u.u

EDIT: In CI&A, the card table says the art isn't yours. Which picture of this Newsletter is yours, the amazing one under the title?

EDIT 2: wiidgc fixed it 

[whatifidogetcaught?]

Nice art credit.

fixing...

[Daraxyl]

Good job!  I enjoyed it, especially the Card Idea of the Month break-down and analysis.

[Quantumage]

This was a truely entertaining read, good job!

[Demonite]

well, thank you for the nice and warm welcome... this is interesting and pretty fun to read...

[Paddoo]

Same as Demonite. Thank you and it is a really nice job !